Wellnessrevolution101’s Blog

Happy New Year! I’m back with new ideas and ways to help my fellow warriors. I’ve mentioned balance and/or posture in some of our previous discussions on DCAS, but in ALL cases you can’t have one without the other. I figured this would be a good topic to examine because most of you may not even know how to attain postural stability.

What does good posture look and feel like?

If you were to take the most ideal posture in it’s purest form, you would see a direct line starting at the back of your ear and extending through the top of your shoulder down to the outside hip bone, knee joint and the outside ankle. Just like this picture from the American Physical Therapy Association.

Now, I have to add a disclaimer here by saying that NO ONE on this planet has good posture…not even me.

The importance of posture

I’ve stated time and time again that static postures locked in for a duration longer than 30 minutes will cause muscle metamorphosis. This leads to muscle breakdown because, when you try to sit up, your muscles will have shortened. Worse, when you try to perform fitness activities, there is an increased risk of injury.
POSTURE IS THE NUMBER 1 KILLER FOR ELDERLY. Ok I can’t state this as a fact. Really PNEUMONIA IS…I’m now going to tell you why posture and pneumonia are linked. Slouch over your keyboard and try to take a deep breath. What you should experience is that your lower abdominals are working but you are unable to take in a full breath to the top of your lungs. This evidences that, over a long period of time, the air at the top of your longs will stagnate. Stagnant air plus the moist hot air in your lungs proves to be the ideal breeding grounds for nasty bacteria. Oh Yes! The kind that can kill you. SO start now…quit the slouching.
What can you do?

Start at wellness revolution 101. I’ve got tons of exercises and stretches to start affecting some change in your life.

Secondly, be mindful of your feet placement . Consider the bottom of your feet as having three points: one at your heel and two points on the inside and outside of your balls of your feet. Try to evenly distribute your weight on this triangle with one-third of your weight spread evenly over each point. Most people have actually learned to stand on the balls of their feet, which forces their calves to work harder. A special note to the ladies: save your backs and your posture and donate your high heels to some poor sucker that thinks they look “cute.”

Many of us walk hunched over and basically fall forward to have our feet catch us. Moreover, most people initiate their gait pattern by throwing their momentum forward and walking on the balls of their feet, or by shuffling and landing flat on their feet. When you walk, remember, proper posture dictates striking your heel first and moving in a pattern towards your toes. The correct way is to transfer that energy length wise from the back of your foot to the front. This will, in turn, create a strong mechanical force to keep your posture aligned upright. IN essence, your legs will be helping your trunk “glide” through the environment versus “bull dozing” through it. Walking with correct form will strengthen and stretch the correct muscles naturally. There’s a reason experts have recommended 10,000 steps per day – equivalent to about 5-6 miles – of WALKING. I bet you didn’t know that.

Here’s a suggestion: try walking a briskly on the treadmill for 10 minutes focusing on extending your stride and striking with your heel first. You’ll feel most of your muscles loosen up and your posture improve immediately.

Bottom Line warriors!

Work on your posture everyday. It’s really as easy as putting 15 minutes in daily. Try my daily programs that can be found here.
Change that static computer posture and get up every 30 minutes at least.
Walk with LONG STRIDES AND HEEL STRIKE.
Ditch the bad footwear
I’m Back for a new year of education. Warrior Nation, keep showing me some love,

Justin Lin

Justin is a featured columnist for DCAS’ “Weekend Warrior,” a practicing physical therapist in the DC metro area and founder of Wellness Revolution 101. If you wish to learn more, please visit his site and read his biography.

Back to Fitness Blogs

This summer I watched our acclaimed American sprinter Tyson Gay pull and tear his hamstring during the Olympic trials. What a sad occurrence, because Gay was supposed to beat up on the likes of Jamaican sprinters Bolt and Powell.

Being a sprinter in a Division 1 Track and Field program, I’ve also had my fair share of hamstring hang-ups. I know the depression and let-down of our recreational and elite runners. The fact that one muscle could shut you down is mind blowing!

My strength and conditioning coach believed he had it all figured out: strengthening the hamstrings and increasing its flexibility was the key to protecting me and my teammates from any further hamstring injuries. He preached that there should be a balance between the strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings. The quadriceps should not overpower the hamstrings because that would cause an increased “knee extension moment” (aka: knee straightening) causing the hamstring to fail. We followed his plan meticulously, but, for most of us, it didn’t work.

Understand that professionals have been pushing this same theory, and elite athletes have been following it uninterrupted for years. And while some athletes do escape hamstring injuries like the one that affected Tyson Gay, most are plagued by recurring problems. Why?

Anatomy and Physiology

First, it is important to understand that EVERY body is created differently – some bodies have a natural disposition to injure one part over another.

Functionally, the hamstring is more or less a postural control muscle for the knees and the hips. It originates from the “sit” bone located in your buttocks and, as a group, is actually comprised of THREE different muscles. I say it’s just a “postural” muscle because, if you look at the bio-mechanics of the run or the walk, there is very little firing except when the knees and hips are propelling someone forward. The muscle’s MAIN job is to CONTROL or slow down these joints, preventing hyper-extension.
The hip flexor, or the iliopsoas, and the quadriceps – have come under fire recently as a cause for back injuries because of where they attach to the pelvis. The main job of these two muscles, however, is to provide stability when the foot hits the ground. In other words, they keep your body from collapsing at the knees or hips and falling; shattering your precious face.
Why is this important? ALL THESE MUSCLES ATTACH TO THE PELVIS!
MY THEORY

My practical theory is that the focus should shift from your knees to your PELVIS. Imagine a side profile of your body. We’re going to make a pulley system out of it: the hamstrings are on one side and the hip flexors and the quadriceps are on the other with the pelvis as the axis. Both sides need to keep their tension. If you stretch out the hamstrings, the psoas and the quads have an advantage and will therefore turn your pelvis forward and down. As I mentioned above, the hamstrings need their regular length to produce a controlling force on the knees and hips. When it needs to stretch to control the knees from overextending, the hamstring fails and tears because IT’S ALREADY OVERSTRETCHED. Like an elastic band, it won’t be able to stretch over its limit.

As a side note, this is also the very same reason you may have the perception your hamstrings are tight all the time. An overstretched muscle will make you feel tight as well, and if you continue to stretch it your front muscles will continue to get tighter and perpetuate the vicious cycle.

Here’s the reality: this is already a problem for most of us because we sit all day for work, sit all day in a car to get us places, and then go home and sit for the remaining time in front of a TV. On the weekends we try to be a super hero and then hurt ourselves.

Your hamstrings are already over stretched, and your front muscles – like the psoas and the quads – are overly tight. Here are your take home lessons:

Don’t stretch your hamstrings. Stretch your quads and the psoas. See my exercises for the hips and lower back.
Don’t sit all day. Do the stretches linked above 3-4 times (or more) per day for 30 seconds as it takes that long for real change to occur in your muscles.
See your licensed health care provider if your problems persist.
Enjoy your holidays! And remember to live the WAY OF THE WARRIOR!

JUSTIN LIN

This is the final column for “The Weekend Warrior” this year, but Justin will return after the holidays.

December 12, 2008-Muscle Misconceptions Article also featured on DC Alumni Sports.com

Recently, a patient was discussing how to put on some muscle mass and to lose fat. Do you want to know what he said?

“Justin, you should turn your fat into muscle.”

I humored him because he must have forgotten for that split second what I do professionally, and that he was at my clinic to SEE ME about how HE got hurt.

Patronizing him I said, “Now, how do you suppose I do that?” knowing very well that after his initial statement I was going to refute any of his advice.

He responded with this: “Well most people don’t know, but muscle is created in layers.”

“Where did you get this information?” I asked.

“A body builder at the gym.”

I smiled and then became the bad guy – delightedly thwarting his health misconceptions.

Fortunately, this patient went home with the correct information this time around.

At first this seemed funny, but I then realized my patients are just microcosms of a more pervasive problem in society: people get poor information about health from unreliable sources that have little education in the field.

If you fall victim to this, it’s ok. With all those websites, news articles, meat head magazines, who can you really trust? Certainly not the Ghostbusters…

Please do me – and yourselves – a favor and seek the correct advice from Licensed Health Care Providers. That means we all took a national or state board of some sort to be able to practice.

What did I say to him?

I told him muscles aren’t built in layers or aren’t built by tearing other ones. Going back to physiology, muscles are made up of small fibers and those fibers are made of small cells. These cells actually undergo hypertrophy or swell in a sense to a point where new muscle cells are created by replicating itself; you might remember a term from seventh grade science, mitosis. Our bodies are no different.

The soreness after a “good” work out is BAD! Quoted from my fitness blog, “here’s why: Our bodies tend to follow the General Adaptation Syndrome or (GAS).When introducing a new stressor, like an exercise, our body will become stimulated. The body will respond in two ways: If it meets the correct stimulation and threshold, your muscles will get stronger and bigger or become more “toned.” However, if the stress is too much, it goes into the exhaustion phase and leads to breakdown.

Soreness is our body’s response that our muscles are breaking down and trying to recover. It also means you likely have an inflammatory process (much like a blunt injury) that creates a little or a lot of swelling in the area. Swelling has been shown to deactivate important muslces for stabilization of moving joints. If it persists for a couple days after, it is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS. In simple terms, if you don’t give yourself adequate rest and continue to break down too much of your muscle cells, this will eventually lead to injuries or the compensations of wrong muscle groups. If you are experiencing soreness, remember to ice several times a day, on and off for 20 minutes.

What’s that mean? If you trying to rehabilitate your shoulder with the mindset that you need to be sore in order to be working out correctly, you will likely see little or no progress.”

So you actually can build muscle without being sore!

My response to his misconception of turning fat into muscle was simple. Fat cells are not muscle cells. They are two completely different cells. Fat cells lie amongst muscle cells and are the energy store for depleted or “hungry” muscle cells.

Basically you get rid of fat two ways:

By creating a small shortage of calories. Calories are a measurement of energy (you see them in all the food and drinks you consume, and, since we’re involved in CAN, that also means alcohol). By decreasing 200 calories per day off your resting metabolic rate, you could burn 1.5-2 lbs a week and still be healthy. Calculate your resting metabolic rate.
The other way is to build lean muscle mass. It’s been said for every pound you make, you will burn 50 extra calories a week at rest. It doesn’t factor in that you may burn more by moving that extra lean muscle around.
Before you take any health advice from Mr. Body Builder, remember where you should be getting the real information.

Thanks and remember to live in the way of the warrior!

Justin C Lin MSPT, CSCS

Justin is a featured columnist for DCAS’ “Weekend Warrior,” a practicing physical therapist in the DC metro area and founder of Wellness Revolution 101. If you wish to learn more, please visit his site and read his biography.

Hope all has been well for you all. There has been a few articles in the news lately about our in coming administration and the pressing need to find a solution with our evolving health care problem . Physical Therapy may just be the key to the answer. I’ll leave it to you to make up your mind.
“U.S. ‘Not Getting What We Pay For’ Many Experts Say Health-Care System Inefficient, Wasteful”
“The Six Habits of Highly Respectful Physicians”
Your #1 Fan,

Justin

For some of you, it’s obvious – warm-up 30 minutes before your game and cool down 10-15 minutes after. For most of you, there are numerous excuses to skip it. I’m willing to bet most of you may not know how this idea and recommendation came about. I remember how easy it was to warm up when I was in my teens and early twenties. I would stretch for about 5 minutes, jog for about 2 minutes and I was good to battle for 4+ hours. I think you all can relate to how easy it truly was. As I got older, I was painfully sore and stiff the day after. I pushed my warm-ups to 30 minutes and neglected to cool down because my busy life couldn’t afford it. The result was good but I was only to sustain this for about 2 more years. Now, it has come down to the old fashioned recommendation in order to get my body functional for the next day. Here’s the truth about the warm up. As we get older, the stress hormone cortisol builds up. It’s the same hormone that causes you to rise to the occasion; unfortunately it is also a catabolic or hormone that breaks muscles and tendons down if sustained for a long time. The end result is more scar tissue – otherwise known as collagen. Collagen is tough to break down. Back to cortisol: so you can see this elevated level could be a never-ending vicious cycle for those of you who are working at a stressful job. Over long periods of time it will also decrease your heart’s efficiency (general wear-and-tear). So what does this mean for you? It means that blood and proper nutrients don’t go to the right places for muscle repair and healing. The worst case scenario is heart disease or cardiomyopathies. What does the warm up do? Well it’s meant to level out all this stress to your body and gradually build it up so it can run at optimal performance. The cool down is meant to do the same – gradually easing yourself back to resting form. If you choose not to cool down, you may have blood pooling. Blood Pooling? It’s when the blood from your muscles doesn’t return to circulation and can damage your veins and arteries. In the end, blood pooling can cause blood clots. What’s that mean? You could give yourself a nice lung/brain stroke and/or heart-attack. Enough said. Solution: What’s my pregame warm up? I usually start my warm at home by foam rolling. This is a cheap but great piece of equipment that helps roll out knots and the scar tissue built up in your body (please see my foam roll link Here). When I get to the field, I start off with a 5 minute jog for about 300-400 yards. I focus on form and full stride with heel to toe action upon foot contact. I choose to run first before stretching so I can start my circulatory system and get the right body parts warmed up. I then go through some twisting, side to side jumps, quick cuts to get my knees and ligaments more flexible and sturdy. I end up stretching the most common tight muscles: the neck, chest, the upper back, calves, hip flexors, and internal rotators of the hips. The cool down is pretty much the same, except I don’t do any of the cutting or jumps. I just do a light jog and stretch of the same muscles I listed above. If you need some ideas visit my website. Everyone is free to have their own methods of going about their warm up and cool-down. The main premise is to just do it. Thanks and remember to live in the way of the warrior! Justin C Lin MSPT, CSCS Justin is a featured columnist for DCAS’ “Weekend Warrior,” a practicing physical therapist in the DC metro area and founder of Wellness Revolution 101. If you wish to learn more, please visit his site and read his biography.

Hi Everyone! I decided to write something for the upcoming holiday season about travel and post it early. Living in the DC Metro area, I find that many of my patients and people that I meet travel often for work. Traveling presents many factors and risks for injury. Blood Clots in your lower legs are a possibility with long flights and poorer blood circulation, for more details see below. Shoulder injuries have been common when lifting heavy carry-on luggage overhead (ask someone for help). Poor postures while sitting have contributed to low back and neck pain see my exercise tips for postural exercises to prevent aches and pains during your trip. Poor seated postures also lead to tighter stiffer muscles that lead to forward head/neck/shoulder postures as well as tight and inflexible hip muscles. One of the most harmful repetitve stresses from my point of view is the pulling of luggage. By pulling a two wheeler luggage case will throw your center of gravtiy forward and lead to a reinforced forward head and forward shoulder and tipping forward of your body by pulling. Pulling in my book is always for worse than pushing any heavy objects for the very reason I stated above, your posture. Not to mention the stresses to your shoulder, I know you all have had instances of pulling the luggage case and the case catches a rock or a ledge and knocking the wheels off balance. This happens as the luggage is behind you, the twisting jars your shoulder. This twisting and torquing is stressful to your shoulder joint and muscles. Luckily for us, Samsonite has made a 4 wheeled 360 degree rotational luggage. With this revolutionary technology we can now push luggages cases. No more tipping over and hurting your shoulders or changing your postures. For me, it has taken out so much of the annoyance and strain in my shoulder to walk with my luggage in front or at my side. Check them out here. Your #1 Fan, Justin Below You will find a paper from the APTA about the health concerns with frequent flying. Long periods of immobility in cramped quarters, such as a long flights, increases the risk of blood clots. Physical therapists suggest simple exercises to help avoid these blood clots, also called deep vein thrombosis (DVT). “Leg cramping, toe cramping, and general lower-body aching are typical symptoms experienced by people who fly,” says former APTA President Marilyn Moffat, PT, PhD, DPT. “Sitting still for long periods may lead to swelling of the feet, which becomes obvious to many passengers when they try to put their shoes back on at the end of their flight,” Moffat says. The APTA “In Flight Fitness Guide,” features a selection of recommended exercises: Disclaimer: This information is not intended as a substitute for professional health care. If you experience signs or symptoms of injury, disease or illness you should seek the advice of a physical therapist or other health care professional. When you have little room to move and stretch on the plane, physical therapists advise doing some simple, seated exercises to keep the blood flowing, the joints mobile, and the muscles relaxed while en route. Heel Raises – Sit with feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Lift heels so that only toes and the balls of the feet are on the floor. Hold for 5-10 seconds and lower feet back to the ground. Repeat 10 times. Toe Lifts – Sit with feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Lift toes and balls of the feet so that only the heels are on the floor. Hold for 5-10 seconds and lower feet back to the ground. Repeat 10 times. Ankle Circles – While sitting, lift right leg slightly off the ground and rotate the foot clockwise, making a circle in the air. Do this 15 times clockwise, then 15 times counterclockwise. Repeat with left leg and foot. Alternatively, trace the letters of the alphabet in the air with the right, and then the left, foot. Overhead Stretches – Stand and reach arms straight up and stretch. Slowly lean to the left, then to the right, bending at the waist. Repeat this action five times to each side, holding each for 5-10 seconds. If you are unable to stand and stretch, then reach arms straight up while seated. If you have room, slowly stretch to each side as well. Back Twists – While sitting, reach the right arm across the body and grab the left armrest. Slowly turn the torso and head as far to the left as is comfortable. Hold for 5-10 seconds, repeat five times, and then switch sides. Curl Downs – While sitting, pull stomach and chin in _ and gently curl trunk down very slowly, reaching hands to the floor. Hold for 5-10 seconds _ then uncurl slowly back up. Repeat five times. Toe-Heel Walk – When walking down the aisle of the plane, walk on your toes one way and then return to your seat by walking on your heels.

Justin Lin, Founder of www.wellnessrevolution101.com submitted a video in a contest to promote physical therapy in a 60 second elevator pitch to Evidence in Motion and My Physical Therapy Space. The premise is to grab attention and convey the purpose of physical therapy to the general public who in most cases do not know what we do.

Click here